The Wolfpacker countdown to NC State Wolfpack football: 80

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Published Jun 15, 2020

The Wolfpacker countdown to NC State football: 80

Matt Carter • TheWolfpackCentral

Editor

@TheWolfpacker

In a perfect world in which the college football season goes off on time, Monday, June 15 marks 80 days until NC State’s season and ACC opener against Louisville, a Thursday night road game that will likely be nationally televised.

Each day, The Wolfpacker will do a countdown to the season with a reflection on the significance of that number to NC State.

80 — Former Pack tight end Dr. J. Lin Dawson

Few players wore the No. 80 jersey around NC State football as well as former tight end J. Lin Dawson. The product of Kinston (N.C.) High makes a definitive case for being the best pro at his position in school history.

Dawson was picked by the New England Patriots after being a successful four-year starter for the Wolfpack, including helping NC State win the 1979 ACC title. He then played nine seasons in the NFL, catching 117 passes for 1,233 yards and eight scores in that time and being named to the Patriots “Team of the Decade” for the 1980s. Not bad for a modest eighth-round selection.

Dawson started 75 of the 105 games he played in the NFL, including 13 in 1985 when he helped the Patriots reach the Super Bowl. Unfortunately for Dawson, his moment in the biggest stage ended on the game’s first play, when he was injured on an incomplete pass thrown his direction. He had ruptured a tendon in his left knee, and he would miss the next season.

Dawson has remained actively involved in collegiate athletics since his playing days ended and in December completed the doctoral program in Organizational Leadership at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., while continuing to serve as the director of athletics at Clark Atlanta University.

He was also the AD at North Carolina Central (2000-03), Grambling State (2008-11) and in between had a stint as associate athletics director at VCU (2005-06). He was named the AD at Elizabeth State University in 2013, a position he held until Clark Atlanta hired him in 2015.